


Trees Instead of Gravestones

by Angel_of_Brahma



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Canon typical Adaine's anxiety, Canon typical Adaine's shitty parents, Drabble, Flash Fiction, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I'm not caught up on S2 BC I don't have dropout so no big links there, Introspection, It's literally just a sentence but y'all can fight me on it, Self projection, Transmasc Zayn Darkshadow, Why don't we get more of Zayn and Adaine being buds in this fandom, i mean kind of??, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:15:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22120894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_of_Brahma/pseuds/Angel_of_Brahma
Summary: In which Adaine comes to deal with her greatest fear.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 51





	Trees Instead of Gravestones

It's just a few words. Or no, no it's not.

It's been building up... well, since she'd left. It was strange, with all Adaine's fears while living with her parents, with all the panic attacks, she'd never once felt this one.

She'd never once looked at her mother, or her father for that matter, and flinched as her own silver tongue morphed into theirs. Never looked too closely at their glares, seen them mirrored in her own.

Now they haunted her. Aelwyn too. No vicious mockery could compare to the creeping fear

_Their manipulation will become yours. It's prophecy, dearest. You can't change that_

Sure, the medication helped. Sure, she had her new family. She had Jawbone, gruff and sweet as all hell. She had Kristen and Fig, Zayn, Fabian, Riz and Gorgug. She was healing. She was building herself up again, fixing the cracks in the foundations they'd left her. She couldn't blame them for all of it but they were responsible for enough.

_It's prophecy._

The Oracles past were never so cruel to her. They were sweet, gentle, always reminding her 

_Take your meds, love._

_The legacy lies with you, love._

_You are worth everything they give you, darling._

_Do remember to practice waterbreathing. Please. We can't risk another lost so horribly, honey._

She knew it wasn't prophecy. Her therapist called what she did 'catastrophising' - making things worse in her head than in reality.

"Wanna hear something cool?" Zayn asked. He was lying down in midair, adjusting his binder as he did. "That's really similar to the word for when they made people into stars - in the old religions, I mean. Catasterismi."

Adaine grinned softly, gripping the hem of her denim jacket in spite of herself. A whole civilisation lived in this fabric. There were galaxies that echoed to eternity, people who breathed and lived and died, who created and loved, hated and destroyed. It was such a small impossibility, like every breath she breathed, like every battle The Bad Kids won, every time they escaped the jaws of death.

She was alive. Another small impossibility. Every day was another chance to try again.

Some days, her family legacy threatened to choke her, took her lungs hostage and made her hands trembling, unknowable monsters. Made those who loved her unknowable monsters. Made her an unknowable monster.

On other days, who cares about prophecy? 

Every day is a new impossibility. Every breath is the chance to try again.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks - hope you enjoyed this. This is my first fic for the fandom but Adaine is a really important character to me at the moment as I've been using her to deal w/ my own anxiety and emotional abuse. Decided to use this fic to get some things out. That being said, any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated.


End file.
